Googlehttp://www.adweek.com/taxonomy/term/2286/all
enThanks to Google, You Can Now Take a VR Tour of New York's Holiday Window Displayshttp://www.adweek.com/news/technology/thanks-google-you-can-now-take-vr-tour-new-yorks-holiday-window-displays-174996
Marty Swant<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/2016_Dec/window-wonderland-bergdorfs-hed-2016.jpg"> <p>
Can&#39;t make it to New York to walk along Fifth Avenue to experience the iconic holiday window displays? Google is helping wannabe visitors check them out in virtual reality.</p>
<p>
The company has partnered with more than a dozen major retailers to create <a href="https://windowwonderland.withgoogle.com/" target="_blank">Window Wonderland,</a> a VR experience that lets anyone explore the lights and sounds of the season using Google Cardboard or Google&#39;s own headset, Google View. The tour&mdash;which debuts today&mdash;lets viewers zoom in on displays and even listen to audio guides from stores&#39; creative directors as they talk about the process of creating the magic seen by more than 5 million visitors every year.</p>
<p>
To create the experience, Google&#39;s Art, Copy &amp; Code projects team took hundreds of high-resolution photos at 18 retailers like Burberry, Bloomingdale&#39;s and Saks Fifth Avenue and stitched them together to create a &quot;life-like panorama.&quot; The displays&mdash;which have been a city staple for nearly 150 years&mdash;let viewers see Lord &amp; Taylor&#39;s Enchanted Forest, see into Santa&#39;s command center at Macy&#39;s or see the almost 10-foot-tall jackalope at Bergdorf Goodman.</p>
<p>
&quot;With all of the artistry and time that goes into creating these holiday windows, we want to open them up to the whole world,&quot; Aman Govil, head of the Art, Copy &amp; Code projects team, wrote in a blog post.</p>
<p>
Of course, along with the VR experience, Google&#39;s microsite also has a link to a digital shopping window, which features buyable products from many of the brands featured in the walking tour. And while the VR tour doesn&#39;t cost a thing, the items <a href="https://www.google.com/webhp?utm_source=googlewindowwonderland2016#tbm=shop&amp;q=holiday+gift+ideas&amp;tbs=vw:g" target="_blank">featured</a>&nbsp;online are far from free.</p>
<p>
Serena Potter, group vice president of digital media strategy for Macy&#39;s, said the Christmas windows are always a high point of the holiday season. Now, the VR tour helps to capture the &quot;wonder and whimsy&quot; of the windows in a more accessible way.</p>
<p>
&quot;This partnership captures a unique retail tradition,&quot; she said. &quot;And with technology, many more, who are not able to experience their beauty first-hand, are able to collectively experience this New York holiday tradition online.&quot;</p>
<p>
Google, which&nbsp;<a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/google-debuts-tv-spots-new-smartphone-and-virtual-reality-headset-173894" target="_blank">debuted Google View in September</a>, has been boosting its virtual reality capabilities over the past few months as it touts the content capabilities of the medium. (And while Google Cardboard is compatible with both Apple and Android smartphones, View only works with Google&#39;s new Pixel phone.)</p>
<p>
Today, Google debuted a video on YouTube that offers a preview of the Window Wonderland:</p>
<p>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="367" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qlUqiSOA6Hg" width="652"></iframe></p>
TechnologyGoogleGoogleVirtual RealityRetailWed, 07 Dec 2016 22:20:16 +0000174996 at http://www.adweek.comIf You Tweet an Emoji at Google's Account, It Will Link to Local Search Resultshttp://www.adweek.com/news/technology/if-you-tweet-emoji-googles-account-it-will-link-local-search-results-174978
Lauren Johnson<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/2016_Dec/google-emoji-search-hed-2016.png"> <p>
Google wants to understand the language of emoji.</p>
<p>
The tech giant today launched a fun feature that lets people tweet emojis at the brand&#39;s Twitter account. For each tweet people send, Google automatically sends back a tweet with a GIF and a link to local search results about the emoji. Tweeting a picture of a coffee cup, for example, results in a coffee GIF and a link to find a nearby coffee shop. And tweeting a picture of a Christmas tree will help you find nearby tree lots.</p>
<p>
The emoji engine is similar to what Taco Bell has been <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/heres-why-taco-bell-created-600-gifs-and-photos-its-new-social-campaign-168007" target="_blank">doing on Twitter for about a year</a> and is part of a campaign Google calls #KnowNearby that promotes its local search tools.</p>
<p>
<a href="https://www.cnet.com/news/search-google-with-an-emoji-tweet-no-words-necessary/" target="_blank">According to CNET,</a> Google&#39;s technology recognizes and can respond to about 200 of the 1,400 possible unicode symbols available, with a few extras&mdash;or &quot;Easter eggs&quot;&mdash;thrown in. Although as Gizmodo notes, Google&#39;s tweets <a href="http://gizmodo.com/googles-new-emoji-tweet-experiment-wont-give-me-porn-1789742980" target="_blank">seem to be purposely PG-rated</a>&mdash;sorry, but Google will not send you porn links.</p>
<p>
Take a look at a smattering of tweets and accompanying GIFs that Google&#39;s account has already cranked out today.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">
<a href="https://twitter.com/___rx02">@___rx02</a> Worth spilling the beans for: <a href="https://t.co/Ij8UY22lq8">https://t.co/Ij8UY22lq8</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/KnowNearby?src=hash">#KnowNearby</a> <a href="https://t.co/MPLbvFilN8">pic.twitter.com/MPLbvFilN8</a></p>
&mdash; Google (@Google) <a href="https://twitter.com/Google/status/806242224052797441">December 6, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">
<a href="https://twitter.com/joncipriano">@joncipriano</a> When you say &quot;pizza,&quot; we say <a href="https://t.co/4Yhj7yYH53">https://t.co/4Yhj7yYH53</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/KnowNearby?src=hash">#KnowNearby</a> <a href="https://t.co/o6Au3Lg46W">pic.twitter.com/o6Au3Lg46W</a></p>
&mdash; Google (@Google) <a href="https://twitter.com/Google/status/806242223247544325">December 6, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">
<a href="https://twitter.com/_T_Rob">@_T_Rob</a> Ice cream. You scream. We&#39;re all still screaming. <a href="https://t.co/jdIC83pmoz">https://t.co/jdIC83pmoz</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/KnowNearby?src=hash">#KnowNearby</a> <a href="https://t.co/dyUpRlQQWB">pic.twitter.com/dyUpRlQQWB</a></p>
&mdash; Google (@Google) <a href="https://twitter.com/Google/status/806242221653688321">December 6, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">
<a href="https://twitter.com/Ted_Scheinman">@Ted_Scheinman</a> Stripes on stripes on search results. <a href="https://t.co/u96LpvEQ58">https://t.co/u96LpvEQ58</a> <a href="https://t.co/xQq7QZ1DdZ">pic.twitter.com/xQq7QZ1DdZ</a></p>
&mdash; Google (@Google) <a href="https://twitter.com/Google/status/806244059899691010">December 6, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">
<a href="https://twitter.com/WMicke">@WMicke</a> Woof! <a href="https://t.co/C8W3tMCXQ2">https://t.co/C8W3tMCXQ2</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/KnowNearby?src=hash">#KnowNearby</a> <a href="https://t.co/3yGazeVlCO">pic.twitter.com/3yGazeVlCO</a></p>
&mdash; Google (@Google) <a href="https://twitter.com/Google/status/806244464851296257">December 6, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>TechnologyEmojiGIFGoogleGoogleGoogle searchlocal searchTue, 06 Dec 2016 21:38:01 +0000174978 at http://www.adweek.comU.S. Agency of the Year: Droga5 Is Defined As Much by Its Soul as Its Soaring Successhttp://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/us-agency-year-droga5-defined-much-its-soul-its-soaring-success-174896
Katie Richards<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/news_article/aoy-cover-01-2016.png"> <p>
Using the fingers on just one hand, David Droga argues, you can count the number of agencies that possess a &quot;strong soul.&quot; These are &quot;the ones that are consistent, retain people and do some of the most interesting work,&quot; Droga says.</p>
<p>
He, of course, counts his own agency, Droga5, as one&mdash;which some might dismiss as a mix of idealism and ego by the agency&#39;s founder and creative chairman. But even Droga&#39;s critics&mdash;who frequently sigh and roll their eyes at each mention of his name&mdash;would have trouble arguing that he&#39;s wrong.</p>
<p>
Walking the halls of the agency&#39;s crowded Wall Street headquarters and talking to its ever-growing staff, it&#39;s easy to see that soul soaked into everything from the work on display to the conversations around Droga5&#39;s communal dinner table. The 675 employees (at last count) include a mix of young talent eager to prove themselves at the industry&#39;s hottest shop alongside those who have been with Droga since his earliest days as a disruptive force in the agency world.</p>
<p>
That soul may have been at the heart of Droga5 since the agency&#39;s inception, but it was certainly in full bloom this year.</p>
<p>
Droga5 enjoyed a 2016 that any agency would envy. It created some of the marketing industry&#39;s <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news-gallery/advertising-branding/10-best-ads-highlighted-droga5s-craftsmanship-and-creativity-2016-174884" target="_blank">best creative work in recent memory,</a> won a litany of top-tier clients (occasionally even without a review), swept up 66 major industry awards and grew its revenue an impressive 35 percent.</p>
<p>
The combination of all these factors made Droga5 a pretty easy choice for Adweek&#39;s U.S. Agency of the Year for 2016.</p>
<p>
Droga5&#39;s strong revenue growth only served to let the agency enhance its capabilities too. Increasingly, the agency is bringing more resources in-house to deliver results for clients faster. It expanded Droga5 Studios&mdash;the shop&#39;s own production studio that worked on the latest Google Pixel spots&mdash;and offered up its own media planning services (a team that&#39;s eight people strong) to work on quicker, nimbler projects.</p>
<p>
You won&#39;t see Droga5 pulling everything in-house, though. &quot;That would be foolish,&quot; Droga says. &quot;But again there are times when the best way to test something is to prototype it. We&#39;re just trying to make ourselves more relevant.&quot; That&#39;s why the agency continues to build its internal studios on the second floor of its office. Dedicated to the shop&#39;s makers and thinkers, the studio includes everything from edit suites to VR experimental rooms, &quot;all the sort of stuff to shorten the distance between getting things out of the creatives&#39; heads and into the world,&quot; Droga notes.</p>
<p>
The year also saw Droga5 boost its client roster, with the addition of Pizza Hut, Trident, AB InBev&#39;s Best Damn, The New York Times and finally Sprint&mdash;which alone spent $763 million on paid media in 2015 and Droga5 won from Deutsch without a review.</p>
<p>
When it does pitch, Droga has an important restriction&mdash;he won&#39;t show work that&#39;s more than a year old. Droga believes clients trust an agency more when the work is current. It also inspires the team to continually deliver best-in-class advertising. &quot;We aren&#39;t going to trade off past glories,&quot; he says.</p>
<p>
Droga5&#39;s only client loss of 2016 was Toyota when the car discontinued its Scion brand. That said, it also opted to part ways with a handful of clients including Diet Coke and Newcastle parent company Heineken in order to pursue work with competitor brands.</p>
<p>
&quot;We have been really thoughtful about portfolio management,&quot; says Sarah Thompson, Droga5&#39;s global and New York CEO. After winning <a href="http://www.adweek.com/agencyspy/droga5s-first-full-campaign-for-chase-includes-cross-dressing-single-moms-and-pet-pigs/105897" target="_blank">Chase</a> last year, the agency added Chase Sapphire and Chase Freedom, while also expanding its work with Google. Adds Droga: &quot;We win more business, not because of pitching but because clients say, &#39;We like the work you&#39;re doing.&#39;&quot;</p>
<div class="news-article-image" style="margin: 15px 0px 15px 15px; float: right;">
<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/2016_Dec/droga5-AOY-01-2016.png" />
<p class="caption">
(L. to r.) Susie Nam, Ted Royer, Chris Wollen, David Droga, Sarah Thompson, Jonny Bauer, Sally-Ann Dale <span class="meta-credit">Photo: Kevin Scanlon </span></p>
</div>
<p>
<strong>A year of unsurpassed creative</strong><br />
Perhaps the best example of the agency&#39;s ability to satisfy its clients with powerful work, while growing business organically, is <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/under-armour-announces-droga5-officially-its-first-agency-record-167955" target="_blank">Under Armour</a>. What began as a project assignment in 2014&mdash;the Misty Copeland &quot;I Will What I Want&quot; spot&mdash;blossomed into the shop becoming Under Armour&#39;s agency of record last year. The shop raised its game for the client even more this year. In February, it began releasing Olympic spots, strategically starting a conversation about the Rio Games months before any other brand even settled on campaign ideas. Both ads for Under Armour aimed to show that although the Olympics is an inspiring event, it&#39;s extraordinarily harsh on athletes who spend years training for mere seconds of performance.</p>
<p>
The first spot, featuring the U.S. women&#39;s gymnastics team, depicted a group of strong women in a way that had never been done before. &quot;I always just wanted people to see it and feel really inadequate about their muscles,&quot; jokes group creative director Tim Gordon. &quot;What we did truly want to show was just really bad-ass, powerful women doing things that no one imagined went into gymnastics and showing that in a light that felt different than the glamour and the sequins.&quot;</p>
<p>
Then came the Phelps spot, which told the story of the swimmer&#39;s grueling, relentless training. Perfectly set to The Kills&#39; &quot;The Last Goodbye,&quot; the work felt particularly prescient when Phelps secured another six golds before retiring after Rio. It also scored six Cannes Lions including a Grand Prix in Film Craft. Beyond the accolades, the Phelps ad also became one of the most shared Olympic spots of all time, with nearly 11.5 million views on YouTube to date, which for a brand not officially sponsoring the games, &quot;was like a win times 10,&quot; says Adrienne Lofton, Under Armour&#39;s svp of global brand marketing.</p>
<p>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="367" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Xh9jAD1ofm4" width="652"></iframe></p>
<p>
For a brand like <a href="http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/droga5-brought-some-wild-tech-bells-and-whistles-interactive-hennessy-site-172342" target="_blank">Hennessy</a>, with which Droga5 has been working for nearly six years, the challenge was how to continue to deliver great creative work that felt fresh, but still stayed true to the brand&#39;s identity. This year it was &quot;The Piccards&quot; spot&mdash;a story of a father who became the first man to reach the stratosphere, and a son who became the first man to reach the deepest part of the Earth&#39;s ocean floor. The visually stunning ad, narrated by rapper Nas, took roughly half a year to make. &quot;Just when you think you&#39;ve tapped fully that creative well of innovation, Droga5 comes up with a different look, a different take, pushing the brand forward,&quot; says Rodney Williams, CMO and evp of brands, Mo&euml;t Hennessy USA. Plus the Hennessy brand has grown stronger year over year, according to Williams, demonstrating &quot;the campaign is having more and more of an impact on the business.&quot;</p>
<div class="news-article-image" style="margin: 15px 0px 15px 15px; float: right;">
<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/2016_Dec/22_1205_AOY.png" />
</div>
<p>
<strong>A funny side</strong><br />
While Droga5 has made a name for itself in the last few years as an agency that can create emotional work, 2016 also represented a return to the shop&#39;s unapologetically funny roots. In May, Droga5 dropped a teen-targeted campaign for Clearasil inspired by a teen&#39;s Facebook comment about prior ads. &quot;Nice try 40-year-old marketing person in your tower in New York City,&quot; Gordon says the comment read. Duly inspired, the team built on the insight that while the brand definitely doesn&#39;t understand teens, it does know how to treat acne. The agency also helped Clearasil engage with teens and moms online, creating tons of content to use in response to Facebook fans who either praised the brand or called it out for not understanding what teens actually care about.</p>
<p>
In early summer, Droga hit the funny bone hard with work for Johnsonville. A company with a small ad budget, the sausage maker was looking for Droga5 to create &quot;breakthrough work that still felt like Johnsonville,&quot; says integrated marketing director Jamie Schmelzer. In a series of spots for the &quot;Made the Johnsonville Way&quot; campaign, Droga5 enlisted three Johnsonville employees to tell the world what their ads would look like if they were charged with creating them. &quot;This is a good example of something that started as being humanity-obsessed, really getting to know the people that work [at Johnsonville] and not just the stuff they make and sell,&quot; says Droga5 group creative director Scott Bell.</p>
<p>
<strong>The next decade</strong><br />
This year, the agency celebrated its 10th anniversary with a blowout celebration on Governors Island&mdash;shutting down the New York landmark for a day to throw a small-scale music festival for its employees. Despite the weeklong partying, Droga and his team fully expected a return to the competitive drive from staffers once they shook off the tinnitus and hangovers. &quot;On every single rung within the agency there&#39;s a group of people who are ready to take the spot of the person above them,&quot; says Thompson.</p>
<p>
It&#39;s that relentless drive from the top down&mdash;and bottom up&mdash;that Droga believes will keep his shop at the top of its game. &quot;Our work can always get better,&quot; he says, &quot;and we are constantly striving for that.&quot;</p>
<p>
For more on Adweek&#39;s 2016 Agencies of the Year, be sure to check out:</p>
<p>
&bull; <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news-gallery/advertising-branding/10-beautifully-crafted-hilarious-campaigns-proving-droga5-had-great-creative-year-174884" target="_blank">10 of Droga5&#39;s Best Ads This Year</a><br />
&bull; Global Agency of the Year: <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/global-agency-year-turbulent-times-ogilvy-seamlessly-ushers-new-era-174894" target="_blank">Ogilvy&nbsp;&amp; Mather Worldwide</a><br />
&bull; <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/6-funny-moving-and-provocative-ads-showed-ogilvys-creative-excellence-2016-174844" target="_blank">6 Funny, Moving and Provocative Ads</a> by Ogilvy<br />
&bull; Breakthrough Agency of the Year: <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/breakthrough-agency-year-venables-bell-next-great-creative-shop-174925" target="_blank">Venables Bell &amp; Partners</a></p>
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<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/2016_Dec/AOY-cover-01-2016.png" width="68" /></div>
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<p>
<em>This story first appeared in the December 5, 2016 issue of Adweek magazine.<br />
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<p>
<span style="border-top-left-radius: 2px; border-top-right-radius: 2px; border-bottom-right-radius: 2px; border-bottom-left-radius: 2px; text-indent: 20px; width: auto; padding: 0px 4px 0px 0px; text-align: center; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; font-size: 11px; line-height: 20px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-image: url(data:image/svg+xml;base64,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); background-color: rgb(189, 8, 28); background-size: 14px; position: absolute; opacity: 1; z-index: 8675309; display: none; cursor: pointer; border: none; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-position: 3px 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;">Save</span><span style="border-top-left-radius: 2px; border-top-right-radius: 2px; border-bottom-right-radius: 2px; border-bottom-left-radius: 2px; text-indent: 20px; width: auto; padding: 0px 4px 0px 0px; text-align: center; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; font-size: 11px; line-height: 20px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-image: url(data:image/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciIGhlaWdodD0iMzBweCIgd2lkdGg9IjMwcHgiIHZpZXdCb3g9Ii0xIC0xIDMxIDMxIj48Zz48cGF0aCBkPSJNMjkuNDQ5LDE0LjY2MiBDMjkuNDQ5LDIyLjcyMiAyMi44NjgsMjkuMjU2IDE0Ljc1LDI5LjI1NiBDNi42MzIsMjkuMjU2IDAuMDUxLDIyLjcyMiAwLjA1MSwxNC42NjIgQzAuMDUxLDYuNjAxIDYuNjMyLDAuMDY3IDE0Ljc1LDAuMDY3IEMyMi44NjgsMC4wNjcgMjkuNDQ5LDYuNjAxIDI5LjQ0OSwxNC42NjIiIGZpbGw9IiNmZmYiIHN0cm9rZT0iI2ZmZiIgc3Ryb2tlLXdpZHRoPSIxIj48L3BhdGg+PHBhdGggZD0iTTE0LjczMywxLjY4NiBDNy41MTYsMS42ODYgMS42NjUsNy40OTUgMS42NjUsMTQuNjYyIEMxLjY2NSwyMC4xNTkgNS4xMDksMjQuODU0IDkuOTcsMjYuNzQ0IEM5Ljg1NiwyNS43MTggOS43NTMsMjQuMTQzIDEwLjAxNiwyMy4wMjIgQzEwLjI1MywyMi4wMSAxMS41NDgsMTYuNTcyIDExLjU0OCwxNi41NzIgQzExLjU0OCwxNi41NzIgMTEuMTU3LDE1Ljc5NSAxMS4xNTcsMTQuNjQ2IEMxMS4xNTcsMTIuODQyIDEyLjIxMSwxMS40OTUgMTMuNTIyLDExLjQ5NSBDMTQuNjM3LDExLjQ5NSAxNS4xNzUsMTIuMzI2IDE1LjE3NSwxMy4zMjMgQzE1LjE3NSwxNC40MzYgMTQuNDYyLDE2LjEgMTQuMDkzLDE3LjY0MyBDMTMuNzg1LDE4LjkzNSAxNC43NDUsMTkuOTg4IDE2LjAyOCwxOS45ODggQzE4LjM1MSwxOS45ODggMjAuMTM2LDE3LjU1NiAyMC4xMzYsMTQuMDQ2IEMyMC4xMzYsMTAuOTM5IDE3Ljg4OCw4Ljc2NyAxNC42NzgsOC43NjcgQzEwLjk1OSw4Ljc2NyA4Ljc3NywxMS41MzYgOC43NzcsMTQuMzk4IEM4Ljc3NywxNS41MTMgOS4yMSwxNi43MDkgOS43NDksMTcuMzU5IEM5Ljg1NiwxNy40ODggOS44NzIsMTcuNiA5Ljg0LDE3LjczMSBDOS43NDEsMTguMTQxIDkuNTIsMTkuMDIzIDkuNDc3LDE5LjIwMyBDOS40MiwxOS40NCA5LjI4OCwxOS40OTEgOS4wNCwxOS4zNzYgQzcuNDA4LDE4LjYyMiA2LjM4NywxNi4yNTIgNi4zODcsMTQuMzQ5IEM2LjM4NywxMC4yNTYgOS4zODMsNi40OTcgMTUuMDIyLDYuNDk3IEMxOS41NTUsNi40OTcgMjMuMDc4LDkuNzA1IDIzLjA3OCwxMy45OTEgQzIzLjA3OCwxOC40NjMgMjAuMjM5LDIyLjA2MiAxNi4yOTcsMjIuMDYyIEMxNC45NzMsMjIuMDYyIDEzLjcyOCwyMS4zNzkgMTMuMzAyLDIwLjU3MiBDMTMuMzAyLDIwLjU3MiAxMi42NDcsMjMuMDUgMTIuNDg4LDIzLjY1NyBDMTIuMTkzLDI0Ljc4NCAxMS4zOTYsMjYuMTk2IDEwLjg2MywyNy4wNTggQzEyLjA4NiwyNy40MzQgMTMuMzg2LDI3LjYzNyAxNC43MzMsMjcuNjM3IEMyMS45NSwyNy42MzcgMjcuODAxLDIxLjgyOCAyNy44MDEsMTQuNjYyIEMyNy44MDEsNy40OTUgMjEuOTUsMS42ODYgMTQuNzMzLDEuNjg2IiBmaWxsPSIjYmQwODFjIj48L3BhdGg+PC9nPjwvc3ZnPg==); background-color: rgb(189, 8, 28); background-size: 14px; position: absolute; opacity: 1; z-index: 8675309; display: none; cursor: pointer; border: none; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-position: 3px 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;">Save</span></p>
Advertising & BrandingAgency of the YearChaseDavid DrogaDroga5GoogleHennessyMagazine ContentU.S. Agency of the YearUnder ArmourMon, 05 Dec 2016 00:56:15 +0000174896 at http://www.adweek.com3 Ways Corporate Spies Might Be Watching Your Business and How to Stop Themhttp://www.adweek.com/news/technology/3-ways-corporate-spies-might-be-watching-your-business-and-how-stop-them-174756
Paul Everton<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/news_article/voice-hotlist-01-2016.png"> <p>
Business is a game of constant competition, but the widespread emergence of covert surveillance and tracking tools has expanded the playbook. Now, <a href="http://www.therichest.com/rich-list/10-of-the-most-infamous-cases-of-industrial-espionage/" target="_blank">industrial espionage</a> has a new dimension.</p>
<div class="news-article-image" style="margin: 15px 0px 15px 15px; float: right;">
<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/2016_Nov/Everton-01-2016.png" />
<p class="caption">
<strong>Paul Everton</strong><span class="meta-credit">&nbsp;Alex Fine</span></p>
</div>
<p>
In the corporate world, the practice is nothing new. In fact, it&#39;s been a marketing tactic for decades. As its name suggests, industrial espionage involves companies deploying spying schemes to gain privileged actionable intelligence about business competitors. But the digital age has given corporate spying a new face. And with the modern proliferation of <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/bruceupbin/2015/04/20/new-browser-hack-can-spy-on-eight-out-of-ten-pcs/#3b4125f82a09" target="_blank">web-based</a>&nbsp;spying options, corporate surveillance is more sophisticated and covert than ever.</p>
<p>
Today, corporate spies for hire carry titles like &quot;Competitive Intelligence Analyst&quot; and &quot;Competitive Market Strategist.&quot; There are many lucrative opportunities for these workers. And they might be watching your business right now. Here are three of the ways they do it&mdash;and also how to dodge their efforts.</p>
<p>
<strong>Monitoring online mentions</strong><br />
One of the easiest and most commonly used ways corporate spies track competitors is by monitoring their online mentions via various tools. As <a href="https://www.kissmetrics.com/optimization/?utm_medium=paid&amp;utm_source=adwords&amp;utm_campaign=2016+%3E+Branded&amp;utm_term=kissmetrics%20blog|e&amp;utm_content=154380448296&amp;gclid=CjwKEAiA9s_BBRCL3ZKWsfblgS8SJACbST7DaGjPTJlJQYudj4buly39iZqTC09XGr0pLSQRqTXx7hoCMAnw_wcB" target="_blank">Kissmetrics&#39; blog</a> points out, Google Alerts sits atop this list. Not only is it a straightforward tool that provides organizations with constant notifications when they&#39;re competitors are mentioned via social or other web platforms&mdash;it&#39;s also free. Other widely used tools include <a href="http://buzzsumo.com/" target="_blank">Buzzsumo</a>, which monitors social mentions, and Competitive Research &amp; Keyword Research Gadget.</p>
<p>
Because these resources are so widely available and economical, there&#39;s no way to counter their use. But companies can prevent them from being used more deviously by competitors by monitoring coverage to ensure they get out ahead of any negative publicity.</p>
<p>
However, the act of monitoring can be cumbersome for certain businesses, particularly smaller organizations without the dedicated personnel to carry it out. That&#39;s why enterprises often turn to <a href="http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/7869-choosing-a-reputation-management-service.html" target="_blank">reputation management companies </a>to handle the job for them. For enterprises choosing to go this route, it&#39;s important to comprehensively vet a prospective reputation management partner based on cost, transparency and the relevance of services offered. Because these companies cover a broad range of offerings and are often highly industry- and service-specific, it&#39;s imperative to find the right reputation manager for your business. For example, if your business is looking to optimize its SEO strategy, then look for a reputation management service specifically geared toward SEO consulting.</p>
<p>
<strong>Capitalizing on negative employee reviews&nbsp;</strong><br />
While many marketers use tools like Buzzsumo and Google Alerts solely to ascertain where they stand, the uses can get shadier. In some cases, for instance, a company spy may use a site like Google Alerts to closely monitor any negative reviews its closest business competitor receives on sites like <a href="https://www.glassdoor.com/index.htm" target="_blank">Glassdoor</a> and <a href="http://www.ripoffreport.com/" target="_blank">Ripoff Report</a>. From there, the spy might attempt to share these negative reviews with the competitors&#39; top customers.</p>
<p>
Because Glassdoor, Ripoff Report and other similar sites are open forums for user-submitted content, companies can&#39;t hope to eliminate the negative reviews their competitors may be sharing. But they can significantly mitigate the negative impact by actively engaging with the reviews on these sites. By constructively responding to negative employee-contributed reviews, companies can undermine the efforts of corporate spies hoping to fuel negative sentiment by directing customers to this content.</p>
<p>
<strong>Spymail</strong>&nbsp;<br />
Spymail is a more sophisticated and insidious industrial espionage technique. The process involves embedding hidden tracking code in emails that allows the sender to uncover data about the recipient. <a href="http://www.corpcounsel.com/id=1202765261056/Why-Spymail-Should-Worry-Your-Legal-Dept?slreturn=20161022154931" target="_blank">Spymail reveals</a> when and where you open it and forward it. At the very least, corporate senders of spymail can use this metadata to monitor individual employees. At the worst, they can harness it to mount phishing and social engineering attacks.</p>
<p>
Consider this hypothetical, and malicious, scenario: a company could use spymail to track the geographic movements of a competitor&#39;s highest-ranking IT personnel, since all these staffers would have to do is open an email with spymail to reveal their exact location. By tracking these movement changes, the company could determine when its rival is most vulnerable&mdash;say, when the head of IT is on a plane to a conference&mdash;and use this moment to launch a cyberattack on the competitor carried out by a hacker for hire.</p>
<p>
In recent years, spymail has grown exponentially, and today there are nearly 3 million people using <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/carolineodonovan/heres-how-i-can-tell-if-someone-read-my-email?utm_term=.vprV40NQZ#.bjr2rBZwj" target="_blank">email trackers</a>. Among them are sophisticated marketers and corporate spies using it to dig up confidential information. To stop spymail from putting them at a competitive disadvantage&mdash;not to mention weakening their corporate cybersecurity and employee safety&mdash;companies should consider deploying an enterprise-grade anti-spymail solution.</p>
<p>
Industrial espionage poses a significant risk to businesses across all sectors. It&#39;s important for all companies to recognize the ways corporate spies are using sophisticated tools to undermine competitors. By taking proactive steps to counter these tactics, businesses can watch their back to avoid negative, and potentially catastrophic, fallout.</p>
<p>
<em>Paul Everton is the founder and CEO of <a href="https://www.mailcontrol.net/" target="_blank">MailControl</a>, an anti-spymail solution that detects and removes email tracking code from emails before they are delivered to user inboxes.</em></p>
<div class="news-article-image" style="float: left;">
<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/2016_Nov/megyn-kelly-cover-01-2016.png" width="68" /></div>
<br />
<p>
<em>This story first appeared in the November 28, 2016 issue of Adweek magazine.<br />
<a href="/subscribe-appeared" target="_blank">Click here to subscribe.</a></em></p>
Advertising & BrandingTechnologyAdweekCorporate spyingcyber attackcyber securityDigitalEspionageGlassdoorGoogleGoogle AlertshackerKeywordsMagazine ContentMonitoringOnline MentionsOpinionReputation ManagementRipoff ReportSEOSocial MediaspyingSpymailtrackingTweetsTwitterVoiceMon, 28 Nov 2016 11:49:55 +0000174756 at http://www.adweek.comBlake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan Can't Stay Mad at Each Other for Long in Funny Ad for Google Duohttp://www.adweek.com/adfreak/blake-griffin-and-deandre-jordan-cant-stay-mad-each-other-long-funny-ad-google-duo-174711
David Gianatasio<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/blogs/blake-griffing-google-duo-hed-2016.png"> <p>
Can BFFs Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan, the terrific twosome of the Los Angeles Clippers, stay angry at each for long?&nbsp;</p>
<p>
We learn the answer in 72andSunny&#39;s brief bro-mantic comedy below, the latest in a series of spots touting the Google Duo video-calling app.</p>
<!--break-->
<p>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL590L5WQmH8dMQffv4RiXgdETMbQyO-rN" target="_blank">Earlier ads,</a> sans celebrities, focused on anthropomorphized pairings such as salt and pepper, cream and coffee and peanut butter and jelly. This ad is similar, with animated jars of restaurant ketchup and mustard&mdash;cheekily voiced by the basketball stars&mdash;chatting via Google Duo to resolve a misunderstanding:<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="367" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1uppyW_-t0w?rel=0" width="652"></iframe><br />
<br />
More napkins, stat!</p>
<p>
Well, Blake and DeAndre certainly seemed happy in the end. A little too happy, perhaps, with the condiments shooting off in all directions. Hope they tipped the waitstaff accordingly.</p>
<p>
The ad amusingly makes its point without overstaying its welcome. Director Jake Szymanski is getting quite adept at duo dynamics, having previously helmed Chrysler&#39;s election-themed campaign pairing two popular <a href="http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/martin-sheen-and-bill-pullman-are-presidents-once-again-chryslers-fun-new-ads-169667" target="_blank">presidential posers.</a></p>
<p>
<strong>CREDITS</strong><br />
Brand: Google Duo</p>
<p>
Agency: 72andSunny<br />
CEO/Co-Founder: John Boiler<br />
CCO/Co-Founder: Glenn Cole<br />
CSO/Partner: Matt Jarvis<br />
Executive Creative Director: Matt Murphy<br />
Creative Directors: Chiyong Jones, Claire Morrisey<br />
Senior Designer: Ami Lewis<br />
Senior Writer: Iain Nevill<br />
Chief Production Officer: Tom Dunlap<br />
Group Production Director: Angelo Mazzamuto<br />
Senior Film Producer: Elizabeth Corsini<br />
Managing Director: Chris Kay<br />
Group Brand Director: Rhea Curry<br />
Brand Director: Emily Connelly<br />
Senior Brand Manager: Kelly Yaussi<br />
Brand Coordinator: Michelle Casale<br />
Head of Strategy: Bryan Smith<br />
Strategy Director: Michael Lewis<br />
Senior Strategist: Saeid Vahidi<br />
Director of Partnerships and Legal: Michelle McKinney<br />
Partnerships and Legal Director: Kallie Haibach<br />
Junior Partnerships and Legal Manager: Lash&aacute; Winn<br />
Partnerships and Legal Coordinator: Kiana Garner</p>
<p>
Production Company: Gifted Youth<br />
Director: Jake Szymanski<br />
Managing Director/Executive Producer: Dal Wolf<br />
Executive Producer of Production: Anthony M. Ficalora<br />
Line Producer: Stephan Mohammed</p>
<p>
Editing: Cut+Run<br />
Editor: Andy Green<br />
Managing Director: Michelle Eskin<br />
Executive Producer: Amburr Farls<br />
Senior Producer: Jared Thomas</p>
<p>
Sound Design: Barking Owl<br />
Sound Designer: Morgan Johnson<br />
Executive Producer/Partner: Kelly Bayett</p>
<p>
Mix: Lime Studios<br />
Audio Mixer: Zac Fisher<br />
Audio Assist: Kevin McAlpine<br />
Executive Producer: Susie Boyajan</p>
<p>
Animation: Jogger<br />
Executive Producer: Rich Rama<br />
Producer: Ben Sposato<br />
Creative Director: David Parker<br />
Lead Flame Artist: Tim Bird<br />
Animators: Yasmin Joyner and Jahmad Rollins<br />
Flame Assist: Jorge Tanaka<br />
Production Coordinator: Erica Cruz</p>
<p>
Color: Apache Digital<br />
Colorist: Shane Reed<br />
Executive Producer: LaRue Anderson<br />
Producer: Caitlin Forrest</p>
Advertising & Branding72andsunnyBlake GriffinCelebrity EndorsementsDeAndre JordanGoogleCreativeAgencyFri, 18 Nov 2016 14:58:37 +0000174711 at http://www.adweek.comGoogle Is Telling More Transgender Stories at a Critical Time for LGBT Rightshttp://www.adweek.com/adfreak/google-telling-more-transgender-stories-critical-time-lgbt-rights-174682
Gabriel Beltrone<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/blogs/transvoices-hed-2016.png"> <p>
Google is back to celebrate more transgender stories.</p>
<p>
Three new documentary-style videos offer a glimpse into the lives of transgender people who are making a difference in their communities, with help from Google&#39;s tools. Trans director Rhys Ernst helms the camera, as it focuses on Evan Young, Jasmine Morrell and Mara Kiesling&mdash;covering subjects like their work, their clients and their families.</p>
<!--break-->
<p>
Young, for example, discusses his history of military service, and how he came to his role as president of the Transgender American Veterans Association.</p>
<p>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="367" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/oLIvcx2PSpY?rel=0" width="652"></iframe><br />
<br />
Morrell, meanwhile, explains becoming a tattoo artist, and eventually opening the Spirited Tattoo Coalition, as a safe space to practice the craft.</p>
<p>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="367" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vkWLJE-BKok?rel=0" width="652"></iframe><br />
<br />
Kiesling, a longtime activist, shares perspective on transgender activism in Washington, D.C., in her role as the executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equity, and the ongoing importance of educating policymakers and the public about what it means to be transgender.</p>
<p>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="367" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/kxII5IvQ0Q8?rel=0" width="652"></iframe><br />
<br />
The ads, taken together, are a powerful tool to that end&mdash;humanizing diverse individuals as representatives of a marginalized and often misunderstood population.</p>
<p>
That kind of visibility is particularly important in light of last week&#39;s election results, as the incoming administration of Donald Trump seems poised to <a href="http://www.latimes.com/opinion/opinion-la/la-ol-lgbt-trump-bannon-20161114-story.html" target="_blank">roll back</a> substantial federal protections for LGBT populations, and shape a Supreme Court that could still have <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-same-sex-marriage_us_5829c604e4b02d21bbc97d2a" target="_blank">substantial influence</a> on their legal rights.</p>
<p>
The timing is important even more broadly, as well.</p>
<p>
&quot;In 2016, we saw over 100 federal policy changes to provide equal and fair treatment of transgender people,&quot; says Arjan Dijk, vp of marketing, executive sponsor LGBT, at Google. &quot;Sadly, at the exact same time, state legislatures were passing bathroom bills and there was a steady increase in violence against the trans community. The suicide rate among transgender people is nine times higher than the national average. They experience discrimination and violence, and extreme poverty and homelessness. They struggle not only for their human rights, but to survive at all. I therefore encourage everyone to follow the #transvoices initiative and to think of ways we can bring more justice to trans communities.&quot;</p>
<p>
Google launched the ads to coincide with Transgender Awareness Week, which runs Nov. 14-20. Ernst, the director, is also a co-producer on Amazon&#39;s popular series Transparent, as is Zackary Drucker, who also produced the new spots.</p>
<p>
In a company <a href="https://blog.google/topics/causes-community/transvoices/" target="_blank">blog post</a> announcing the campaign, Tea Uglow, a trans creative director at Google Creative Labs, acknowledges it has been a banner year for trans people in media. But &quot;2016 is also the most deadly year on record for transgender people with 23 reported murders in the USA and counting,&quot; the post reads.</p>
<p>
Agency and production company Lonelyleap shot the new ads. The work follows last year&#39;s <a href="http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/google-just-made-one-most-compelling-ads-yet-about-gender-transition-165368" target="_blank">heartwarming Google ad</a> by Venables Bell &amp; Partners about a trans man finding home at a Kansas City gym.</p>
Advertising & BrandingGoogleLonelyleaptransgenderCreativeAgencyThu, 17 Nov 2016 16:07:03 +0000174682 at http://www.adweek.comGoogle Is Introducing Native Video Ads for Mobile Publishershttp://www.adweek.com/news/technology/google-introducing-native-video-ads-mobile-publishers-174619
Marty Swant<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/2016_Nov/google-ad-publishers-mobile-hed-2016.png"> <p>
If Google&#39;s research is correct, more than half of all smartphone users give up trying to load mobile websites if it takes longer than three seconds. Because of that, Google is moving forward with several beta offerings to help publishers and advertisers make their mobile formats more efficient.</p>
<p>
Today, the search and video giant introduced native video ads for publishers, an offering through its DoubleClick platform that the company says could speed up video on publishers&#39; mobile websites while also driving more revenue.</p>
<p>
&quot;It is in everyone&#39;s interest to work together to deliver a faster mobile experience,&quot; Jonathan Bellack, Google&#39;s director of product management for publisher platforms, told Adweek. &quot;We feel the data is very clear that mobile users expect speed and that they will not wait around if things are slow. And therefore, if the industry together cannot deliver speed, nobody will succeed.&quot;</p>
<p>
Google says its video ads business is growing quickly, with monthly video ad impressions served across platforms doubling since January. When the company reported it&#39;s third-quarter earnings&nbsp;<a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/google-search-and-youtube-drove-alphabets-third-quarter-revenue-growth-174312">last month,</a>&nbsp;Ruth Porat, chief financial officer for Google parent company Alphabet, said mobile search and video continue to power the company&#39;s advertising business.</p>
<p>
Native ad impressions served through DoubleClick also have doubled overall since May for a group of publishers that includes The New York Times, Vogue, Slate and eBay. (For The New York Times, for example, native ads have had clickthrough rates six times higher than average and viewable impressions four times higher than standard display formats.)</p>
<p>
Google isn&#39;t the only tech company working to speed up the mobile web. In September, Facebook started&nbsp;<a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/facebook-driving-advertisers-decrease-load-times-mobile-websites-173231">putting more pressure on brands</a>&nbsp;to decrease load times by preloading ads even before a user click on them. The Google rival also said it planned to begin factoring load times into determining which users see which ads.</p>
<p>
Along with launching native video ads, Google also announced today that it&#39;s bringing its Exchange Bidding offering out of alpha and into beta. The platform, which lets publishers put multiple exchanges in competition with each other, is also moving into mobile apps.</p>
<p>
Exchange Bidding launched earlier this year and reportedly now has a waiting list of more than 100 publishers, Bellack said&mdash;the longest line since Google unveiled its <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/google-rolls-out-new-tools-publishers-134888">First Look</a> for DoubleClick.</p>
<p>
Based on a November survey of DoubleClick data, Google says there are four times as many publishers using Exchange Bidding now as there were in April. The number of exchanges has also doubled, with new additions like Sovern and Gamut.</p>
<p>
&quot;There&#39;s an avalanche of data,&quot; Bellack said, &quot;both by Google and others in the industry, that says speed is phenomenally important in the mobile realm.&quot;</p>
TechnologyGoogleGoogleMobileSearchVideoMon, 14 Nov 2016 23:17:52 +0000174619 at http://www.adweek.comSmart Home Devices Are Giving Brands a Whole New Way to Advertisehttp://www.adweek.com/news/technology/smart-home-devices-are-giving-brands-whole-new-way-advertise-174569
Lauren Johnson<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/news_article/amazon-google-ai-hed-2016.png"> <p>
The next time you need help removing a stain from clothing or are searching for cocktail recipes, don&#39;t be surprised if help comes in the form of sponsored voice messages from <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/why-clothes-youre-wearing-right-now-have-probably-been-washed-tide-161643" target="_blank">Tide</a> or Johnnie Walker.</p>
<p>
After years of hype, Amazon, Google and Apple&#39;s vision for the Internet of Things is starting to come to fruition with the rollout of smart home devices like Amazon Echo, Google Home and Apple&#39;s Siri and its HomeKit, which launched in September. In fact, 6.3 million voice assistants will be shipped in 2016, amounting to $890 million, according to research firm Futuresource Consulting. No surprise then that marketers are hoping to cash in on this new AI technology by embedding voice-activated experiences.</p>
<p>
&quot;A lot of what we had done before was so visual in nature&mdash;creating videos, websites and apps,&quot; noted Greg Hedges, director of strategy at digital agency Rain, which has created branded Amazon &quot;skills&quot; for Tide, Campbell&#39;s Soup and Liberty Mutual&#39;s Safeco. &quot;[Voice] is now part of what we do&mdash;it&#39;s the evolution of how we interact as consumers with things.&quot;</p>
<p>
Notable brands are creating their own &quot;skills,&quot; which lets users ask questions and talk to Alexa, Amazon&#39;s AI platform. Tide, for example, gives consumers detailed instructions on how to remove stains. After reading the directions out loud, Alexa sends the instructions in a text message with a link to buy laundry detergent on Amazon.com. Johnnie Walker&#39;s location-based program helps people find nearby liquor stores that sell its label. Once someone makes a purchase, Johnnie Walker can recommend cocktail recipes. In all, there are more than 4,500 skills, with 700 new skills available in the last week alone, per Amazon. Quaker Oats, Patr&oacute;n Tequila and Domino&#39;s also are on board.</p>
<p>
Meanwhile, marketers are just starting to get their hands on Google Home&mdash;the internet giant&#39;s play to own the living room&mdash;and are exploring ways to use Google&#39;s trove of data across email, search, maps and more. In December, Google will open up its AI software, called Google Assistant, allowing developers and marketers to build voice skills that are similar to Echo.</p>
<p>
&quot;Google has probably the most data of anybody,&quot; noted Erin Hauswirth, associate director of strategy at agency Giant Spoon. &quot;Their whole business has been based on people typing a query into a search bar, but if people aren&#39;t doing that anymore and instead we&#39;re asking questions over a speaker or through a chat interface, they need to be able to promote products, queries, features and entertainment [that way].&quot;</p>
<p>
Then there&#39;s Apple. In June, Apple opened up Siri&#39;s program to brands like Uber and Fandango to build voice apps that work within iMessage. But Apple&#39;s so-called walled garden has kept marketers from digging in. And its latest living room entry, HomeKit, just rolled out this fall.</p>
<p>
Consumers have been slow to embrace branded skills. In July, <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/patr-n-wants-help-you-find-perfect-cocktail-using-your-amazon-echo-172590" target="_blank">Patr&oacute;n Tequila</a> launched an Amazon skill offering margarita recipes and bartender tips, which has been downloaded by just 7,000 people. Only 17 percent of those consumers&mdash;or nearly 1,200&mdash;used it more than once. It&#39;s no better at <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/ad-day-johnnie-walker-has-simple-message-america-eve-election-day-174484" target="_blank">Johnnie Walker,</a> which reports that its skill, which launched in September, has been used just 1,200 times (though on the upside, it boasts an average of 13 back-and-forth interactions with users).</p>
<p>
Ray Velez, chief technology officer at Razorfish, which created Patr&oacute;n&#39;s skill, suggested those stats are a good start, given Echo is a new brand. &quot;What&#39;s different about scale here is we&#39;re looking at a trajectory&mdash;building something for when a technology like Alexa starts to get at scale helps to follow a trend,&quot; he said. &quot;The awareness and the knowledge isn&#39;t quite there.&quot;</p>
<p>
Stephanie Jacoby, Johnnie Walker&#39;s vp of brand marketing, pointed to real-time data that can be captured during interactions with Amazon Echo and Google Home. Metrics include how long someone uses a skill, what questions they ask and where they&#39;re located. &quot;Now that we&#39;ve launched, the next few months will be about learning and optimizing,&quot; she said. &quot;We want to see where people spend most of their time, what areas are driving repeat visits. We&#39;ll be continuously rolling out updates based on these learnings over the course of the year.&quot;</p>
<p>
Like marketers, agencies also are preparing to join the fray, staffing up on AI talent and exploring ways to create branded content offerings. Earlier this month, holding company MDC Media Partners launched stand-alone agency Born to bring together the creative and technology sides of AI and voice. &quot;It&#39;s like the traditional agency 10 years ago when they weren&#39;t really serious about digital&mdash;now every big creative agency you know can build an app,&quot; said Michael Nicholas, Born&#39;s chief experience officer. &quot;We fully believe that we&#39;re going to see the rise in artificial intelligence agencies.&quot;</p>
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<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/2016_Nov/trump-cover-01-2016.png" width="68" /></div>
<br />
<p>
<em>This story first appeared in the November 14, 2016 issue of Adweek magazine.<br />
<a href="/subscribe-appeared" target="_blank">Click here to subscribe.</a></em></p>
Advertising & BrandingTechnologyAmazonAppleArtificial InteligenceGoogleJohnnie WalkerMagazine ContentPatronTideMon, 14 Nov 2016 00:56:45 +0000174569 at http://www.adweek.comHow Instagram, Google, Facebook and Other Tech Notables Are Getting Out the Votehttp://www.adweek.com/news/technology/how-instagram-google-facebook-and-other-tech-notables-are-getting-out-vote-174497
Christopher Heine<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/news_article/fromwhereistand-hed-2016.png"> <p>
This afternoon, <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/instagram-letting-brands-test-taggable-buyable-products-photos-174365" target="_blank">Instagram</a> is sending many of its 100 million U.S. users a reminder to go vote. The mobile app announced today that it built the feature over the weekend, and it&#39;s reaching people who allow push notifications on their smartphones.</p>
<p>
If you get push notifications, a message will pop up on your phone&#39;s home screen&mdash;tap it, and you&#39;ll be taken to <a href="https://www.instagram.com/instagram/" target="_blank">Instagram&#39;s account</a>, where there are links to help find your polling place. The Facebook-owned app has also installed a colorful, interactive mural at Flatiron Plaza on 23rd Street in New York that encourages folks to post photos with the election-themed hashtag&nbsp;<a href="https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/fromwhereistand2016/" target="_blank">#FromWhereIStand2016</a>.&nbsp;</p>
<blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-version="7" style=" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:658px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);">
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<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BMWy8J2AAeF/" style=" color:#000; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none; word-wrap:break-word;" target="_blank">Instagram has created a fantastic interactive mural to visually connect voters with the many issues that matter this election. I randomly walked by it this morning and It captures the key issues of this election so well that I had to stop and capture it. Where do you stand? Make sure you VOTE. #FromWhereIStand2016</a></p>
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A video posted by New York (@newyork) on <time datetime="2016-11-03T17:21:23+00:00" style=" font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px;">Nov 3, 2016 at 10:21am PDT</time></p>
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<script async defer src="//platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js"></script><p>
Instagram&#39;s moves underscore how tech companies are implementing special features to get out the vote in 2016, a new twist in the electoral process.</p>
<p>
For instance, Google&#39;s doodle today reminds people to vote, and viewers who click on the doodle are taken to a &quot;Where to vote&quot; page with polling information.</p>
<p>
<img alt="" src="http://www.adweek.com/files/2016_Nov/google-vote.png" style="width: 652px; height: 357px;" /></p>
<p>
Zipcar is <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/zipcar-offering-free-cars-voters-drive-polls-election-day-174456" target="_blank">offering members free rides</a> to the polls. In&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnet.com/news/facebooks-first-get-out-the-vote-campaign-hits-news-feeds-across-the-us/" target="_blank">late September</a>, Facebook began notifying users about state deadlines for registering to vote. And around the same time, Snapchat offered a feature that <a href="http://time.com/4506506/snapchat-voter-registration/" target="_blank">reportedly</a> let users register to vote within one minute.&nbsp;</p>
<p>
Meanwhile, the Republicans and Democrats are buying up social ads to drive supporters to the polls.&nbsp;</p>
<p>
For example,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/snapchat-launches-first-sponsored-political-lens-democratic-super-pac-174474" target="_blank">today</a>,&nbsp;pro-Hillary Clinton super PAC Priorities USA Action purchased the mobile app&#39;s first political-themed lens&mdash;colorful filter that decorates selfies&mdash;ahead of Tuesday. The lens dresses users up in Clinton&#39;s hair and three of her signature pantsuit tops: red, white and blue. The eight-second animation features a background image of the White House, and the Snapchat user &quot;shimmies&quot; while a voice recording in the background says, &quot;Whew, OK,&quot; referencing <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5FPTPkeomA" target="_blank">a viral moment</a> from the first presidential debate.</p>
<p>
And, according to Snap Inc., Republican nominee Donald Trump has secured the app&#39;s national geofilter ad for Election Day. It&#39;s not clear if his team has also purchased a sponsored lens, which can cost upwards of $750,000 on days with major events or holidays.&nbsp;</p>
TechnologyInteractiveElection 2016FacebookGoogleInstagrampresidential politicsSnapchatZipcarMon, 07 Nov 2016 19:31:08 +0000174497 at http://www.adweek.comGoogle Is Targeting Travel Marketers to Buy Native Programmatic Adshttp://www.adweek.com/news/technology/google-targeting-travel-marketers-buy-native-programmatic-ads-174423
Lauren Johnson<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/news_article/doubleclick-sanfran-hed-2016.png"> <p>
In July, Google started offering native programmatic buying through its DoubleClick network with a pilot program that lets publishers make their so-called native advertising inventory available to brands. Brands can run multiple native campaigns by uploading all of the bits of the ad&mdash;including creative, text and a headline&mdash;and then Google&#39;s ad platform adjusts them to fit the dimensions and context of individual publisher sites and apps.</p>
<p>
After testing it with brands like Hilton and the San Francisco Travel Association, Google is now expanding the program to an open beta and is particularly interested in working with more travel brands to test different variations of native ad campaigns. Google claims that roughly 1,000 native ad campaigns are running through DoubleClick Bid Manager, as of October.</p>
<p>
For San Francisco Travel and programmatic marketing platform Sojern, the brand wanted to promote content about the best places to stay in the city this summer. With the goal of persuading people to spend at least three days in the city by driving them to content on SFTravel.com, Sojern first used its own technology to find the groups of people they wanted to reach. The platform wanted to find folks who had previously shown an interest in visiting San Francisco and were also interested in topics like food and holiday travel. &quot;For example, using Sojern&#39;s historical data on search and booking trends, we found that users who were searching for travel around the Labor Day or Columbus Day weekends had a strong propensity to book,&quot; Jackie Lamping, vp of marketing for Sojern, said in a blog post that Google<a href="https://doubleclick-advertisers.googleblog.com/2016/11/programmatic-native-ads-in-doubleclick.html?m=1" target="_blank"> published today.</a></p>
<p>
Then, Sojern ran native ads through DoubleClick that targeted those groups of people, starting with eight pieces of creative that promoted four pieces of content and eventually dwindling it down to the best-performing four pieces of creative.</p>
<p>
Over the the course of two months, Google claims that the method of testing different versions of creative programmatically increased hotel bookings 1662 percent&mdash;a rate 16 times more effective than the brand&#39;s previous campaign that also dropped the cost per acquisition by 92 percent.</p>
<p>
Native advertising is on track to be a $16.8 billion industry this year and $20.9 billion in the U.S., according to BI Intelligence. But for the most part, the transaction and creative process is still relatively manual for marketers, explained Karen Lau, manager of digital marketing for San Francisco Travel.</p>
<p>
&quot;With normal display ads, we would have had to build templates and go through a more structured internal creative review process for each piece,&quot; she said. &quot;With native ads we just provided copy, image and a link, so we were able to bypass that review process and be more nimble and flexible.&quot;</p>
TechnologyDoubleclickGoogleGooglenative advertisingnative programmaticprogrammatic advertisingSan Francisco TravelSojernThu, 03 Nov 2016 16:03:41 +0000174423 at http://www.adweek.comWhat Chatbots Are Teaching Us About the Future of Marketinghttp://www.adweek.com/news/technology/what-chatbots-are-teaching-us-about-future-marketing-174309
David Shing<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/news_article/jessicapavone-voice-01-2016.png"> <p>
Chatbots are treated like the simpletons of the artificial intelligence world, overshadowed by movie-trailer-creating <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/ibm-watson-and-weather-company-are-ready-launch-their-first-cogntive-ads-173727" target="_blank">Watson</a> and its ilk, or the suggestion engines of huge etailers.</p>
<div class="news-article-image" style="float: right;margin-left: 20px; margin-right: 0;">
<img class="fancyzoom" data-fancybox-src="/files/imagecache/node-detail/shingy-headshot-01-2016.png" src="/files/imagecache/test-width/shingy-headshot-01-2016.png" />
<p class="caption">
<strong>David Shing</strong><span class="meta-credit">&nbsp; Alex Fine</span></p>
</div>
<p>
But a good implementation of <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/how-chatbot-helped-vinyl-records-startup-make-1-million-8-months-170900" target="_blank">a simple chatbot</a> requires a deft understanding of the interplay between man and machine. And as technology slingshots us forward, the comprehension of this &quot;in-between&quot; space will be a prerequisite for any brand or advertiser hoping to make it in a world profuse with new and amazing digital experiences.</p>
<p>
When, and how, do we &quot;hand off&quot; the experience from the machine to the human, and vice versa?</p>
<p>
Programmatic targeting is facing a similar issue, in an industry unsure how the <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/creatives-and-programmatic-players-are-increasingly-getting-same-page-172016" target="_blank">coupling mechanism between man and machine should work</a>. Sure, The New York Times has accurate data on its audience, but it also has a deep journalistic history and pedigree&mdash;this context, of course, is lost on a programmatic robot. It takes a human touch to correctly leverage this pedigree. The Times, drawing on that brand experience, focuses thoughtful curation and co-creation through its <a href="http://www.tbrandstudio.com/" target="_blank">T Brand Studios</a> to close that gap and further increase the trust its consumer has in its brand (while bringing other brands along as well).</p>
<p>
Programmatic, specifically, calls out for creative disruption. We can reach the right person at the right time in the right place, millions of times a day. There&#39;s no arguing that we&#39;ve created an incredible system in our digital galaxy, punching holes in the architecture that we could use to guide and inspire consumers. But it all falls apart <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/why-creative-programmatic-ads-are-attracting-brand-marketers-and-tech-investors-167168" target="_blank">without creativity</a>. We&#39;re still struggling with that handoff: Programmatic tech gives us such incredible and detailed access but requires truly innovative and creative stories only humans can put together.</p>
<p>
The challenge will be thinking about creative from a whole different view: Can we have creative that scales? That customizes itself? We find ourselves hurtling toward another handoff from man to machine&mdash;what larger system of creative or <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/these-2-agency-execs-are-getting-schooled-programmatic-googles-newest-interns-171167" target="_blank">complex storytelling</a> structure can I design such that a machine can use it appropriately and effectively?</p>
<p>
Therein lies the real challenge&mdash;finding the correct interplay and balance between man and machine. This is not a battle. The regularly touted man vs. machine conflict simply does not and should not exist, especially when it comes to brands and marketing.</p>
<p>
Data feeds the weak <a href="http://www.wired.co.uk/article/machine-learning-ai-explained" target="_blank">AI we have now</a>, and it produces spectacular results. But eventually, humanity must intervene, as evidenced by <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-deletes-racist-genocidal-tweets-from-ai-chatbot-tay-2016-3" target="_blank">Microsoft&#39;s Twitter experiment </a>or Facebook&#39;s <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/10/technology/facebook-vietnam-war-photo-nudity.html" target="_blank">censorship</a> debacles. Clearly, man still has a huge edge in understanding cultural context, proprietary and much more. But just as clear is the machine&#39;s ability to perform quickly and accurately at scales beyond human comprehension.</p>
<p>
I finished up this piece on a bus rolling through a typhoon in Tokyo. A quick trip to Google will show you how obsessed Japanese are with <a href="http://en.rocketnews24.com/2013/10/24/10-beautiful-packaging-designs-from-japan/" target="_blank">packaging</a>. In a world where everything comes in a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/27/technology/27amazon.html" target="_blank">brown Amazon box</a>, perhaps packaging is not something we think about as much anymore&mdash;but of course, I do. Packaging is perhaps the earliest physical form of marketing and differentiation. If done correctly, packaging does one of two things: It disappears smoothly into the background of our consciousness because it is so seamless, beautiful and convenient; or it adds a dimension of delight and wonder to the unboxing process (&agrave; la Apple). I consider chatbots to be brands&#39; attempt to package themselves for social media.</p>
<p>
And the man-machine handoff is a central problem in our continued development of social media. We&#39;ve created all these <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/infographic-social-platforms-grow-older-so-do-their-users-170285" target="_blank">social networks</a> to facilitate and augment our interactions. Now all we do is complain about how they&#39;ve made interacting more difficult, more awkward, less real. It&#39;s a quixotic paradox: How do we design for interactions that are not meant to be noticed? How do we package something in such a way that it melts into the background or becomes, itself, a meaningful part of the experience?</p>
<p>
Clearly, chatbots and other similar attempts to bridge the man-machine gap have not made it there yet. They are annoyingly noticeable and more disruptive than delighting. But the question of perfect synergy between man and machine is of tantamount importance because we sit on the verge of widespread AR, VR and <a href="http://fortune.com/2016/04/12/facebook-360-degree-camera/" target="_blank">360 video adoption</a>.</p>
<p>
These technologies demand something better, seamless, creative and novel. In completely immersive experiences, any cracks in the interplay between man and machine are immediately obvious and immediately drops the viewer out of the experience.</p>
<p>
We have a great opportunity ahead of us with these emerging technologies. But we must be sure we continue to best serve the consumer, protect our pedigree and truly understand that the conflict between humanity and technology is not a conflict at all. It is more like a big, fat media wedding.</p>
<p>
<em>David Shing (<a href="https://twitter.com/shingy" target="_blank">@shingy</a>) is AOL&#39;s digital prophet.</em></p>
<p>
This week&#39;s illustration was created in partnership with students from&nbsp;the <a href="http://www.baltimoreillustration.com/" target="_blank">Baltimore Academy of Illustration</a>. Below is a full gallery of their submissions and links to their portfolios.</p>
<div class="news-article-image" style="margin: 15px 0px 15px 15px; float: right;">
<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/2016_Oct/AmandaDiGiondomenico-01-2016.png" />
<p class="caption">
Amanda DiGiondomenico<a href="http://www.behance.net/AmandaDiGiondomenico" target="_blank"><span class="meta-credit">Portfolio</span></a></p>
</div>
<div class="news-article-image" style="margin: 15px 0px 15px 15px; float: right;">
<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/2016_Oct/CaitMay-01-2016.png" />
<p class="caption">
Cait May <span class="meta-credit"><a href="http://www.caitmayart.com" target="_blank">Portfolio</a> | <a href="http://caitercates.tumblr.com/" target="_blank">Tumblr</a></span></p>
</div>
<div class="news-article-image" style="margin: 15px 0px 15px 15px; float: right;">
<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/2016_Oct/CamdenYandel.png" />
<p class="caption">
Camden Yandel<span class="meta-credit"><a href="http://www.camdenyandel.com/" target="_blank">Portfolio</a> | <a href="http://www.camdenyandel.tumblr.com/" target="_blank">Tumblr</a></span></p>
</div>
<div class="news-article-image" style="margin: 15px 0px 15px 15px; float: right;">
<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/2016_Oct/Chelsea-Demitras-01-2016.png" />
<p class="caption">
Chelsea Demitras<a href="http://art.cdemitrasdraws.com/" target="_blank"><span class="meta-credit">Portfolio</span></a></p>
</div>
<div class="news-article-image" style="margin: 15px 0px 15px 15px; float: right;">
<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/2016_Oct/OnOnLao-01-2016.png" />
<p class="caption">
On On Lao<a href="http://www.ononlao.com" target="_blank"><span class="meta-credit">Portfolio</span></a></p>
</div>
<div class="news-article-image" style="margin: 15px 0px 15px 15px; float: right;">
<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/2016_Oct/GeorgeBierly-01-2016.png" />
<p class="caption">
George Bierly<a href="http://www.behance.net/gbierly" target="_blank"><span class="meta-credit">Portfolio</span></a></p>
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Stephanie Smith<a href="http://www.stephaniesmith.com/" target="_blank"><span class="meta-credit">Portfolio</span></a></p>
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<em>This story first appeared in the October 31, 2016 issue of Adweek magazine.<br />
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Advertising & BrandingTechnology360 videoAdvertisingAdweekAIAmazonAolAppleARArtificial InteligenceBotsBrandscensorshipchatbotsCreativitydataDavid ShingDisruptione-tailersFacebookGoogleHumanMachineMachine and ManMagazine ContentMarketingMicrosoftOpinionPackagingProgrammaticRobotsScienceShingyTechnologyThe New York TimesTwitterVoiceVRWatsonMon, 31 Oct 2016 00:25:27 +0000174309 at http://www.adweek.comGoogle Search and YouTube Drove Alphabet's Third-Quarter Revenue Growthhttp://www.adweek.com/news/technology/google-search-and-youtube-drove-alphabets-third-quarter-revenue-growth-174312
Marty Swant<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/2016_Oct/google-earnings-hq-hed-2016.png"> <p>
A year after Google spelled out its plans to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/google-officially-becomes-alphabet-today-2015-10">evolve</a> into Alphabet Inc., legacy products including search and YouTube continue to be the biggest revenue generators for the company.</p>
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According to its third-quarter <a href="https://abc.xyz/investor/news/earnings/2016/Q3_alphabet_earnings/">earnings</a> announced today, Alphabet once again beat analysts&#39; estimates, reporting total revenue of $22.5 billion, a 20 percent increase over the same period last year. Earnings on a per-share basis totaled $9.06, up from $7.35 during the third quarter of 2015. (Analysts had <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/2016/10/27/google-parent-alphabet-reports-fiscal-third-quarter-q3-2016-earnings.html">expected</a> total revenue of $22.05 billion and earnings per share of $8.63.)</p>
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On an earnings call with investors Thursday, Alphabet CFO Ruth Porat said the quarterly earnings were driven by growth in both search and YouTube.</p>
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&quot;We had a great third quarter, with 20 percent revenue growth year on year, and 23 percent on a constant currency basis,&quot; Porat said in a statement. &quot;Mobile search and video are powering our core advertising business and we&#39;re excited about the progress of newer businesses in Google and Other Bets.&quot;&nbsp;</p>
<p>
Advertising revenue for Google during the third quarter totaled $19.8 billion, up 18 percent from $16.8 billion last year. Aggregate paid clicks in the third quarter also increased, growing 33 percent year-over-year, while paid clicks on Google websites grew by 42 percent.</p>
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Aggregate cost-per-click decreased 11 percent, falling 13 percent on Google websites and 14 percent on Google network members&#39; websites.</p>
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On the earnings call, Google CEO Sundar Pichai mentioned that Google&#39;s six-second <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/youtube-builds-little-haikus-video-new-6-second-mobile-ads-171052" target="_blank">&quot;bumper&quot;</a> ads have shown strong results for marketers such as Universal Pictures.</p>
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Losses from other ambitious, long-term bets, or &quot;moonshot&quot; projects, like self-driving cars, cost Alphabet $865 million in the third quarter, a smaller loss than the $980 million it reported a year prior.<br />
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&quot;As we reach for moonshots that will have a big impacts on the longer term, it&#39;s inevitable that there will be course corrections along the way,&quot; Porat said on the earnings call.</p>
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Earlier this month, Google made its <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/google-debuts-tv-spots-new-smartphone-and-virtual-reality-headset-173894">debut</a> in the hardware industry with several new products. in addition to launching Pixel, Google&#39;s first self-branded smartphone, the company introduced a new virtual-reality headset, voice-activated assistant and Wi-Fi router.</p>
TechnologyAlphabetGoogleGoogleMobileSearchThu, 27 Oct 2016 21:44:11 +0000174312 at http://www.adweek.comWhether Mobile Shoppers Are Fickle or Smart, Holiday Retailers Need to Deal With Their Elusive Wayshttp://www.adweek.com/news/technology/whether-mobile-shoppers-are-fickle-or-smart-holiday-retailers-need-deal-their-elusive-ways-174130
Christopher Heine<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/2016_Jul/mobile-holiday-hed-2016.png"> <p>
<a href="http://www.adweek.com/topic/holidays" target="_blank">Holiday shoppers</a> can be pretty fickle, according to Google&#39;s <a href="https://adwords.googleblog.com/2016/10/the-year-of-supershopper.html" target="_blank">retail-based study</a> being released today. Fickle to the point that 76 percent of shoppers change their mind about which brand to purchase thanks to a Google mobile search.&nbsp;</p>
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Picture the average consumer, walking into one shop in a mall before staring down at his or her phone for three minutes and walking out and into another store. Well, maybe that is not fickle at all&mdash;just smart. Either way, retailers have to be ready to convert prospects into customers in real time.&nbsp;</p>
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&quot;It&#39;s anyone&#39;s game today, especially online,&quot; said Julie Krueger, retail managing director at <a href="http://www.adweek.com/topic/google" target="_blank">Google.</a> &quot;Because shoppers are choosing the brands that are there and useful in the moment, established brands can&#39;t take for granted that their loyal shoppers will automatically default to shopping with them this year.&quot;</p>
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Indeed, Krueger and her team last year found that only 50 percent of holiday shoppers were willing to change their minds. She added, &quot;[Retailers] need to look at the complete omni-channel view of the data.&quot;</p>
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Here are a few other data points from <a href="https://adwords.googleblog.com/2016/10/the-year-of-supershopper.html" target="_blank">Google&#39;s report,</a> which entails a series of summertime surveys that ranged from 800 to 1,500 participants:</p>
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About 25 percent of U.S. mobile video viewers utilized YouTube before purchasing while they <a href="http://www.adweek.com/cmo-report-retail" target="_blank">were at a store</a> or visiting a store&#39;s website.</li>
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In July, mobile searches related to &quot;unique gifts&quot; increased more than 65 percent while mobile searches related to &quot;cool gifts&quot; jumped 80 percent.</li>
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Seventy-six percent of mobile consumers who searched for something nearby visited a related business within a day, and&nbsp;28 percent of those searches result in them buying an item.</li>
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Advertising & BrandingTechnologybricks-and-mortar storescross channel marketingGoogleMobileMobile advertisingMobile searchmobile search adsWed, 19 Oct 2016 13:00:00 +0000174130 at http://www.adweek.comGoogle Is Rolling Out New Technology for Publishers to Count Mobile Viewabilityhttp://www.adweek.com/news/technology/google-rolling-out-new-technology-publishers-count-mobile-viewability-174023
Lauren Johnson<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/news_article/ad-viewability-hed-2015.png"> <p>
After getting suspended from the Media Rating Council&mdash;which has become digital advertising&#39;s de facto measurement watchdog&mdash;last month, Google is slowly starting to roll out a new way for publishers that use its DoubleClick for Publishers to measure mobile viewability.</p>
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Here is why Google&#39;s move was necessary: in April, the MRC issued its first measurement standards for mobile web viewability that treats mobile and desktop viewability the same. Similar to <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/mrcs-first-stab-viewability-standards-treats-mobile-ads-same-desktop-170555" target="_blank">desktop viewability,</a> marketers are charged when 50 percent of a mobile display ad is in view for one second and two seconds for a video ad.</p>
<p>
While the standard is the same for how advertisers are charged, the technical methodology that publishers use to measure mobile viewability changed. During an audit by the MRC last month, Google&#39;s methodology for measuring mobile viewability did not meet the new requirement, causing the MRC to suspend Google&#39;s accreditation.</p>
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Starting this quarter, publishers will begin seeing a new &quot;downloaded impression&quot; metric in reports in addition to the &quot;served&quot; metric that they can use to adjust pricing and their businesses, according to a spokeswoman.</p>
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To be clear, Google&#39;s desktop viewability through DoubleClick and its AdWords business is not affected by the mobile change, and both areas remain accredited by the MRC.</p>
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Mobile viewability is suspended for Google because, before April, publishers counted a view as when an ad server sent code to a website to load an advertisement, per the MRC and the Interactive Advertising Bureau&#39;s rules. Now, counting an impression requires a bit of extra time&mdash;publishers have to wait for the ad server to get a request and then wait until the creative starts downloading on a page before it can be counted.</p>
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In explaining the suspension, David Gunzerath, svp and associate director at the MRC said it was, &quot;because of a non-compliance issue related to updated requirements of relevant Impression Measurement Guidelines. We expect that we will be able to reinstate accreditation once these non-compliance issues have been sufficiently addressed.&quot;</p>
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It may seem like a small, wonky change, but it speaks to the challenges that ad-tech companies and publishers have in keeping up with advertisers who are increasingly demanding stricter guidelines for their digital ads to be measured against. While marketers ask for more, the change in mobile methodology will likely take time for publishers to adjust and prepare for.</p>
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As a result, Google and other ad-tech companies have spent the past year building and installing new systems and hiring new talent to accommodate for the change.</p>
Technologyad viewabilitydigital ad viewabilityGoogleGoogleGoogle DoubleClickMedia Rating Councilmobile viewabilityMRCThu, 13 Oct 2016 17:58:33 +0000174023 at http://www.adweek.comA Simple Visual Trick Shows Google's Evolution From Search Engine to Cellphones http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/simple-visual-trick-shows-googles-evolution-search-engine-cell-phones-173904
Marty Swant<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/2016_Oct/google-pixel-hardware-hed-2016.png"> <p>
The Google search bar is evolving yet again. You might say it&#39;s growing up. Or maybe it&#39;s growing out.</p>
<p>
A new spot for Pixel, Google&#39;s first self-branded smartphone, puts the iconic white strip front and center to show the search-engine-now-hardware company is moving closer than ever before to compete head-on with other smartphone powerhouses. (Think Apple.)</p>
<p>
In the first film in a series created by Droga5, the search bar slowly reshapes itself from the long and narrow bar into a tall and sleek body. The new phone was first teased <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNnCtmyujLA">last month</a> in a similar but much more minimalist spot promoting the Oct. 4 launch date.</p>
<p>
&quot;It has enabled people to get answers to any question, converse with faraway friends and find their way to remote locations&mdash;or just their way home,&quot; a Droga5 spokesperson said in an email. &quot;It&#39;s been the focal point of many great adventures, as well as daily life. And now, the company that organized the world&#39;s information is turning its attention to the most important device in your life: your phone. For the first time ever, all the power and possibilities of Google are now in the palm of your hand.&quot;</p>
<p>
The campaign, which launched Tuesday, is rolling out across the six major markets where the phone will first be available: the United States, Australia, Canada, Germany, India and the United Kingdom.&nbsp;Google also launched its first 24-hour Snapchat takeover, which allows users to view more than 20 custom videos on Snapchat&#39;s Discover feature.</p>
<p>
During Google&#39;s&nbsp;<a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/google-debuts-tv-spots-new-smartphone-and-virtual-reality-headset-173894">launch event Tuesday</a> for the Pixel, a VR headset and several other devices,&nbsp;Google CEO Sundar Pichai said the time is finally right for the company to enter the product space by bringing together Google&#39;s artificial intelligence software with a sleekly designed hardware.</p>
<p>
&quot;We are evolving from a mobile-first to an AI-first world,&quot; Pichai said.</p>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="367" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6pxIcH_0MH0" width="652"></iframe></p>
Advertising & BrandingTechnologyTelevisioncross channel marketingGoogleGoogleMobileSearchWed, 05 Oct 2016 14:49:09 +0000173904 at http://www.adweek.com